VIPR
by ShadowKing910
Summary: The adventures of my team, VIPR, this is my first posting, so don't be too harsh please?
1. VIPR PtI

Violet Viperidae and Peridot Pinewood were a pair of faunus from the kingdoms borders: Violet was a snake faunus, with green reptilian eyes, short dull purple hair and matching scales running down her neck and back.

Peridot was a pangolin faunus, he had thick scales running down both arms and across his back, and his right hand was tipped with long claws.

They were walking through the grounds of their new home, Shade Academy—run by the stoic Professor Storm—and getting to know the place. They had come to fight for something greater than themselves.

They had passed the entrance exams with ease in comparison to other students, but Violet hadn't realised they would have to fight in four-person teams, and while she had settled to the idea of hunting with Peridot, she had no experience with how to act around other people.

They wandered about the grounds, climbing trees and towers alike for a better view, until they noticed large numbers of people gathering at the assembly hall, and remembered that there was an introductory speech planned.

On the other side of the grounds, Isen Ironhelm - a strong man with orange eyes and a bald head, wearing a full suit of grey armour - was walking down the statue garden. He was looking at each of the great huntsmen and huntresses that had attended the school in the past - reading the plaque at the base of each fifteen meter tall.

While taking his tour he noticed a girl sleeping in the crossed arms of a statue, clutching a bright red board, as long and wide as she was, to her chest.

"Hey!" He called to her, she turned her head, she was wearing a pair of goggles and a grey cloak, but a small bit of her crimson hair poked out the front.

"What?" She called back, sitting up in the arms of the statue, placing the board on her lap, it had two small turbines on the back edge of it.

"You do know introduction's in ten minutes, right?" She smiled like a child about to do something they knew was wrong.

"So? Doesn't mean I can't get some sleep." She moved to lie down again, but slipped, falling from the statues arms. Isen moved quickly, rushing beneath her, but she never reached him. She'd fired up the two turbines mounted to the red board, keeping her from hitting the ground.

"Thanks Rebel," she whispered to the board. "Well, I guess I should get to that speech." She leaned forward on the board, bracing her back foot against the turbines and hitting the accelerator.

"Wait! I didn't even catch your name!" Isen shouted after her, there was something about her that had him curious, and he wanted to know how to find her before she darted off.

"Rosso Rouge, now watch me fly!" She shouted back, flying forward with a sudden burst of speed.


	2. VIPR PtII

There were almost a hundred people in the assembly hall, but only two figures stood on the stage: Professor Storm, a man with short grey hair and a dark blue greatcoat, the other was a woman with shoulder length orange hair and a black tailcoat with red on the inside: Professor Blaze.

"Let me start by welcoming you to Shade Academy," Storm announced, getting everyone's attention. "You have travelled here today in search of strength, to hone your craft and learn new skills."

Isen was listening attentively, but something caught his eye: a figure on the upper floor; the student from the statue garden, she was partially paying attention, but he couldn't help notice she was also fiddling with her board, which had been split into two halves, the small turbines had become handles for a pair of long, single edged swords.

Rosso was lazily observing Storm from her perch. She'd heard some of what he'd done as a huntsman, and the record impressed her enough to earn some of her attention.

Peridot and Violet had arrived late to the speech, having been distracted scaling some of the taller towers at the school. They had missed Storm's speech entirely, showing up only in time to hear the final echoes bouncing off the walls.

As the headmaster stepped away, Professor Blaze approached the microphone.

"You will gather in the food hall tonight; tomorrow your initiation begins. Good luck, all of you."

Everyone started to move towards the door, and Peridot looked around to see how many other Faunus were present. He wasn't surprised to recognise only a sparse number. Violet started to move at the same time he did, heading for the door.

Peridot saw a strange person on the second floor, hooded with her eyes covered, and wondered if she was a Faunus too, just too self-conscious to show herself. Violet tapped his shoulder, and he jumped slightly as he hadn't realised he'd stopped. They started again for the door, they still had more views to see from the towers.

Rosso surveyed the crowd while putting her board back together. She was trying to pick out kindred spirits. Most looked like they weren't very interesting, and the ones that looked like they might be looked vaguely familiar, which made her want to avoid them even more.

She recognised the guy she'd been talking to in the statue garden with mild interest. She'd never gotten his name, which felt like cheating since he'd gotten hers. Dropping from the ledge, she kicked out her board, using its boosters to slow herself down before landing, dismounting casually as she did, flipping the board up and holding it across her back, then started walking towards him.

Isen looked around to see Rosso coming towards him, and he smiled happily, starting the conversation.

"You kind of flew off before I could introduce myself." She smiled coyly, taking off her goggles to reveal flickering red eyes.

"Well, you didn't need to get my name, you know?" He chuckled quietly, extending his right arm for a handshake.

"Yeah, well I wanted to know so I could keep an eye on you." Rosso raised an eyebrow, taking a careful step back and sinking into a defensive posture, and Isen quickly explained.

"My family has a history of great achievements, I want to know what you can do because you seem very capable, so I can keep up. Sorry if it came out sounding… creepy." She smiled again and then laughed briefly.

"Do you have any idea who I actually am?" He shook his head, confused.

"I'm from a family known for absolutely nothing, never even knew my father. I broke into a combat school and learned through watching the actual students.

"The only reason I passed the entrance exam is because I'm good at watching and learning fast, I'm a street rat, that's it." Isen looked at her, not changing his face for a few minutes, before breaking out into laughter.

Just as Rosso was considering hitting him, he stopped, grinning stupidly.

"You're a fast learner and you know how to watch your opponent for weaknesses, that's what makes you a student to watch." Rosso made a lopsided grin, proud that someone recognised her skills.

"You still didn't tell me your name." She extended her own hand, and Isen quickly took it, noticing a flame tattoo going up her wrist.

"Isen, Isen Ironhelm." The two walked out of the hall, everyone else had already left.


	3. VIPR PtIII

Peridot and Violet were happier sleeping outside than in the cramped building. They were up a tree just outside the cafeteria when someone noticed them; A man with fiery orange hair and green eyes. He whistled at Violet.

"Hey, what's your name?"

She looked at Peridot tiredly, he just shrugged, and she sighed.

"Violet, I'm a Faunus."

The guy shrugged, leaning up against the wall of the large cafeteria.

"I'm not, big deal. Nice to meet you."

Violet climbed down from the tree, resting on the lowest branch.

"So, do you want something?"

He nodded, pushing off from the wall and taking several steps forward, a seductive smile forming on his lips.

"I just wanted to tell you you're cute."

He winked, making Violet blush.

"Th… That's nice."

She stuttered, attempting to scramble back up the tree. Peridot was chuckling quietly. The man looked up at him, realising someone else was in the tree.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise you already had a boyfriend."

Violet stopped and her eyes went wide. Peridot's chuckle exploded into full laughter as she tried to explain that they were just friends.

"He… He's not… I don't have a boyfriend."

She stuttered out. The guy was looking at her mouth, considering climbing up for a small kiss, before his eyes went wide and he whispered something, noticing her fangs, then her slitted eyes.

"I… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, you're probably trying to find someone like you, right?"

Violet tried to say something, but he was already walking away.

Violet climbed up the tree again, almost completely red, and Peridot quietly started talking to the L shaped horn on his shoulder.

"Look at that Ver, she's all flustered over a few compliments."

Violet looked back at him, not wanting to interrupt his musing. She watched the green ribbon waving in his hair, then the small horn that hung over his right shoulder, his only reminder of his twin sister, Verde.

"Don't worry about me Peridot."

He lifted his head to look at her, smiling sadly while running a hand along his sister's horn.

"We're not, we just want to make sure you're not going to lose it if our opponents start to compliment you…" Violet punched him, knocking him off of the branch. He landed on the ground, on his feet.

"You're really good at falling, aren't you?" He chuckled again before agilely climbing up the again.

Rosso was on the roof of the cafeteria, enjoying the night sky. She had slept in the streets often enough to enjoy the fresh air of Vacuo at night. It was nice for most of the year, only winter was really uncomfortable for her, but her infusion of fire dust kept her warm.

She noticed some others climbing onto the roof, and sighed. She'd hoped to be alone for tonight, but if others wanted to be on the roof she wouldn't stop them.

"What are you doing up here?" One growled as the group approached her.

She looked over to them, she wasn't wearing her hood and her goggles were higher on her head, revealing her crimson hair and red eyes. She recognised their outfits; they wore dark orange trailing coats, with scaled patterns near the hem: Draco's Dragons, a gang she'd been trying to avoid for almost a year, ever since she'd left them.

"I was stargazing, and planning on going to sleep later." She noticed that one of them was trying to get around behind her, and she sighed again.

"Why are you _still_ chasing me?" She asked lazily, grabbing her board and splitting it into its sword form.

"The Dragon isn't very happy with you Ross, he wants his dust back." she just stared at them, not letting her anger show.

"I heard he infused Moissanite, that true?" The one behind her lunged, missing her as she flew backwards, propelled by Rebels engines, which pointed down the blade now. She left a trail of fire along the stone roof and launched herself to her feet, ready to fight.

"Let's go then boys!" Her cloak began to glow, flames igniting along the ashen fabric.

She shot forward, another gout of flame burning behind her, striking one man in the chest with her boot, then slashing at another. She slashed and stabbed wildly, flying across the roof. Flames from the dust fuelled turbines and her cloak flew all around her, burning anyone who wasn't already dodging or getting thrown off the roof.

The last five backed off, trying to keep distance between her and them, while also trying to surround her.

"Come on, I'm not even warmed up yet!" Rosso whined as some started to leap off the roof. She pointed one of her swords at the man closest to her.

"You want more?"

They closed in on her, blades and battle-axes falling around her dancing form, she darted from one target to the next, a blur of fire. She slashed one and knocked him off of the roof with a backhand boosted by the engine on the blade. She rolled over another to kick the man behind him. She then launched herself back into the man she'd rolled across so he too flew from the roof.

She knocked the last one over, pointing her blade at his throat "The Dragon will hear of this!" He shouted, and Rosso grinned evily, malice dripping from her eyes.

"Tell him, tell him everything his Rouge and his Rebel's doing, I want him to know just how much I hate the bastard!" And she kicked the man off of the roof to join his friends.

Rosso sighed, looking down at the fleeing men, carrying the ones who weren't conscious. She was in Shade Academy, how many of Draco's men could say they'd stand a chance there?

She lay down and calmed herself, the embers flaring up across her cloak before dimming back to ashen grey, and her eyes glow slowly fading. She then carefully nodded off.

She never even realised the entire spectacle had been seen by Peridot and Violet.

"She has dust in her." Peridot stated, standing on a branch above Violet, who nodded her head.

"That she does, what are you thinking?" She looked up at him, but his eyes were elsewhere, remembering his sister's fighting style, swift and merciless. He nodded to himself, answering a question he'd asked himself.

"We should introduce ourselves tomorrow." Violet raised an eyebrow as he sat down, leaning up against the trunk of the tree.

"First time you've wanted to talk to someone else, does she remind you of her that much?" Violet had only learned Peridot's name shortly after they left the village, but he'd been close with his sister.

"Should I get the guy to come back?" Violet blushed and sat down against the tree as well, shaking her head.

"No, I think we should go to sleep now." Peridot smiled and closed his eyes, his dreams were haunted by his sister, and the day a Grimm had taken her.


	4. VIPR PtIV

The next day the professors organised everyone in for breakfast, a surprising number of people had slept outside. They served foods for everyone, from various roast meats to bright fruit. Peridot was mostly grabbing slices of meat, and knocked into Isen while going for a leg of turkey.

"Hey, watch where you're going." Isen grumbled, he'd never been a morning person. Peridot just nodded before grabbing another piece of meat.

Violet was sitting at a table by herself waiting for Peridot. She was biting her lip, her fangs pinching the skin, when someone behind her spoke.

"I don't think snakes should bite their lips." She quickly bolted around, almost biting down on her lip and piercing it, she'd never even heard the girl approach. As a snake Faunus she was born with working fangs, venom included, but she didn't have immunity to her own venom.

The girl who'd spoken looked almost wild, she had purple hair with pink stripes through the long fringe and on her two cat ears. Her yellow eyes were somewhere between intensely focused and completely lost, and she had an unnerving smile on her face.

"You almost made me bite myself." Violet was upset, she'd found out some time ago that her venom was quite toxic.

"I just wanted to warn you." She was almost childish in her apology.

"I'm Azure, Azure Manie, what's your name?"

Violet just looked at her for a moment, Azure didn't stop smiling. At all.

"Violet Viperidae." She replied cautiously, Azure nodded.

"That's a very pretty name, and you're a very pretty snake." Violet was getting annoyed more than flattered.

"Stop calling me that." Azure cocked her head.

"What?"

"A snake." Her mouth opened in an O, before closing into a smile again.

"Sorry, Viperidae, I always get called cat, so I thought it was normal for Faunus."

Violet looked at her for a bit longer. She was trying to work out if she was an unknowing victim of racism, or just a childish girl whose friends had an odd sense of humor.

"That's alright, and Viperidae was my last name, Violet is my first."

"I know, maybe we'll meet again? You are very pretty."

Violet blushed this time, her annoyance at the girl's manners gone. As the girl walked away Peridot arrived with their food, smiling to himself.

"Making friends?" Violet glared at him, grabbing a piece of meat from the plate and slowly started gnawing on it, while Peridot ate most of his quickly. He grabbed some stones from a bag afterwards and swallowed them.

They recognised Rosso from the night before, she had her hood and goggles on. The two looked at each other, nodding in unspoken agreement.

Rosso was just settling down for her breakfast when the two came over. She had no idea who they were, but readied Rebel after noticing the woman was a reptilian Faunus. There was only one reptile she knew, and he didn't want her alive.

"Hello, I'm Violet Viperidae, this is Peridot Pinewood." Rosso eyed the girl closely.

"Do I know you?" Violet shook her head.

"Should I?" Peridot stepped forward, clearing his throat.

"We saw you last night, with those men." Rosso looked right at him, he didn't flinch under her gaze.

"And?"

"And you're infused," Rosso nodded cautiously "We wanted to introduce ourselves to you, since you seem very capable." She looked sceptically at them. There was laughter from behind them, and Isen stepped up.

"I told you." Rosso shook her head, putting her arms out in an exasperated shrug

"I told you that people would know you're good." She threw a fork at him, which bounced off of his armour, and he sat down.

"Could you stop stalking me? I'm regretting giving you my name already." Isen smiled, then looked at the other two.

"Don't see many reptilian Faunus, no offense meant, what're your names?"

"None taken, I'm Violet Viperidae, this is Peridot Pinewood."

"Isen Ironhelm" He put a hand out, which Peridot shook.

"Any idea what the final test is?" Isen asked, they shook their heads.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure me and Rebel can handle it" Rosso caressed her board, it was sitting across the bench. She had the look of someone who was talking to an old friend.


	5. VIPR PtV

The Professor's called that breakfast was over, and for everyone to collect their locker number from the front of the hall. Everyone was checking their lockers to store excess equipment.

Isen sniffed the air, something smelled off and it was making him nauseous.

"What is that smell?" He whispered to himself, and there was a finger tapping on his shoulder.

He turned around to see a small girl; her skin was tinged green, and her hair was pale blue, her eyes were a much sharper shade of blue. She wore a ragged blue cloak over more ragged looking black clothes, she also wore thick black gloves.

"What?"

He asked, but the girl just pointed at her nose, then to herself in general.

"Can you talk?"

She shook her head, then he caught on to what she was trying to explain.

"You smell?"

She nodded, looking somewhat sad, and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so rude, you clearly take good care of your hygiene,"

She perked up, smiling widely

"What's your name?" She started making letters with her hands H, A, I, L.

"Hail?"

She nodded again

"Well Hail, it was a pleasure to meet you." He started to leave, and she looked after him, her smile quickly fading away.

"Hail, was it?" Someone asked from behind her, making her turn around.

A girl wearing a black lace skirt and light jacket walked up to her, with a man in a white suit behind her.

"I think you smell quite nice." Hail smiled and shook her head, not wanting to be lied to.

"No, really, your smell reminds me of home. There was a graveyard next to us, and it always smelled like this." She took a deep breath, closing her black eyes as she remembered her home.

"I really like it, thanks for not getting freaked out." The girl in black started to walk away when the man put a dirty hand out.

"Sorry about her, I'm Terry, she's Darke, and it really is a pleasure to meet you," They shook hands, "Care to come with us to the top?" Hail smiled, nodding enthusiastically before following the other two out to the large mesa they were being briefed on. She'd never had any real friends before.


	6. VIPR PtVI

The headmaster was standing on the edge of the mesa, rows of platforms behind him, each one with a prospective student standing on it, waiting.

"Hello students, today you will get a taste of what is expected of you as future Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"This will include killing Grimm, finding a ruined hall, and possibly falling from great heights and climbing sheer cliffs." He turned around and looked over the assembled students, checking the silver pocket watch on his jacket.

"The Grimm in the caverns beneath us are both numerous and varied. Some are small and practically harmless to trained individuals. Others are large and dangerous to even experienced hunters.

"If you feel unable to assess and react to these threats, please step off of your platform." No one moved.

"I would like to address another point, there will be no help to save you from us." Some people let out a shocked gasp.

"I will say this again, you will receive no help from anyone who has already passed this test, if you do not feel able to take on large, possibly old Grimm, you should immediately step off of your platform."

Some people lost their nerve and stepped off, but most stayed on, waiting for the drop.

"To those that remain, you will be looking for the ruins of the Hall of Hero's. As you move through the caverns the first person you meet will become your partner, the first pair you meet after finding a partner will become your team.

"Each team is to arrive at the Hall, if you arrive alone or in a pair you will wait for another pair to come to be integrated as a team, does everyone understand?" There was a resounding YES from the crowd, and Storm smiled.

"Then good luck, and may your feet be on strong ground." With a flick of his wrist the platforms collapsed, sending the students down the slippery tunnels into the caves, before rising back up so the students couldn't crawl back out and cheat.

Isen slid down the hole quickly, his weight making him go faster, but as the exit came he didn't try to stop himself. Instead he drew and unfolded his grenade launcher, firing several shots downward, the rounds keeping him aloft long enough to reach the other side.

He switched his weapon, Shell Shock, to its zweihandler form, the blade erupting from the stock of the launcher, and stabbed into the wall, sliding down the wall at a much more controlled pace. He hit the ground and started walking in a direction he assumed was towards the hall.

"Faster Rebel, faster!" Rosso screamed with joy as she slid, using rebel as a body board to go even faster. As she reached the exit of the long tunnel she jumped up into a surfing position, half flipped and fired up the turbines, slowing herself down until she was floating in the air.

The light hum of the Dust powered engines was the only sound she could hear other than her own echoed screams. She slowly moved through one of the higher openings in the cave wall.

Violet crawled silently through the tunnel, using her Pit Fangs, a pair of Bichua daggers, as climbing tools to move through. When she saw the tunnel open up into a large room, she checked the area carefully. It was full of glowing crystals of various colours, Dust, and lots of it.

She carefully climbed down the wall, making sure not to fracture any of the crystals. When she reached the ground she walked off to find Peridot, using her semblance to make herself transparent.

Peridot slid down silently, waiting for the tunnel to end, and when he finally reached it, he did nothing to slow himself. Instead he flew through the air and into a stalagmite, bracing himself against it before pushing off, rocketing into another.

He repeated this until his momentum slowed enough for him to hit the ground running, sprinting off in search of Violet.

Isen was using a torch embedded into his shoulder to find his way. The light was bright and had a wide arc, allowing him to see most of what he was walking through.

He heard a sound in the roof, looking up to see what it was. He could see dozens of small black forms, with white skulls and glowing red markings.

He turned the torch off immediately, not wanting to wake the Grimm, but as he walked he stumbled over a stone. He hit the ground with a heavy thump, waking the Ecataruk, sending them into a feeding swarm of coordinated teeth and claws.

Isen pulled his helmet down, sealing the only entrance to his armour. He swung and snatched at the bats, crushing them with his mechanical arm or slashing them up with Shell Shock. He didn't want to try and shoot any of them, lest he miss and hit a Dust crystal.

Alone Ecataruk were near harmless, but in swarms they could be lethal, and Isen thanked his father for helping make his armour. He was swinging his arms and horn about, trying to clear the ravenous swarm.

Rosso could hear the screeching cries of the bat Grimm, and quickly ran towards it, hoping that the person causing the ruckus was still alive.

When she arrived she saw Isen, ripping the bats off of his armour, and smiled, someone with enough metal to hold off the swarm.

She began to channel the power of the dust in her body, her eyes glowing like fire, and a small flame growing in her hand. When the ball began to grow unstable she threw it.

The swarm descended into a moment of uncontrolled disorder, before focusing on the girl who presented a much easier meal, and much greater threat.

Rosso jumped from her perch in the wall, splitting Rebel and throwing herself at the swarm, dust fuelled flames exploding in her wake, bringing more chaos to the swarm. Isen had recovered from the disorienting screech of the bats, and now took careful shots. He used the grenades to blow holes in the swarm.

Soon there were only a dozen Ecataruk, and these remnants fled from the pair, hiding in nooks and miniscule tunnels in the cave. Rosso looked at Isen, removing her goggles, her bright eyes dimming, smiling.

"Guess we're partners then?" Isen laughed, removing the faceplate on his helmet.

"I guess so." They walked off into one of the various caverns, hoping they weren't backtracking on Isen's path.

Violet was staring at a strange sight. Darke was fighting a large Cave Crawler, a spider like Grimm with thick plating on its back and underside, as well as the tips of its legs.

She was using her taloned gauntlets and gun-toed boots to rip the Grimm apart.

Her blows flew across it in a whirlwind of blades and muzzle flash, but she was smiling from ear to ear, enjoying the wounds she inflicted on the large creature.

Her blows were definitely strong enough to pierce the armour, she'd actively crippled it during the start of the fight. But she was actively avoiding vitals, ensuring the thing lived in agony for as long as she wanted.

Violet had watched all this from a spot near the roof, and saw another person walking up to the scene.

They wore black clothing with red highlights and imitation Beowolf fur over their shoulders. They approached the creature, a flaming scythe in hand, and struck the most exposed spot, killing the Grimm.

Darke looked at the new person for the first time, rage in her black eyes. His were comparatively calm, grey eyes and he had white hair. She was about to yell at him when he spoke.

"I guess we're partners?" She glared at him for a moment longer, before finally speaking.

"And why did you have to ruin my fun to tell me?" he smiled, and Violet had to admit, he pulled off handsome arrogance well.

"I could tell I'd never get your attention with the bloody Crawler right there, so I took care of it." Neither of them had put their weapons away just yet, and both seemed eager for another fight. Darke asked one more question.

"What's your name, asshole?" His smile turned into a grin, his grip tightening on the scythe.

"Ember. Grimm." He exaggerated each word, and Darke nodded, throwing a wide kick at him. He aptly dodged and returned the blow with a swing of his scythe, which was blocked and dodged. The fight was short lived though, as they were interrupted.

Terry landed between them, using Gravedigger to block the scythe and his semblance to bring the two to a halt, making Ember retch and Darke recoil from him, covering her mouth.

Terry sighed, letting his semblance dry up and trying once again to vainly remove the dirt that somehow constantly covered his cuffs.

"Could you two please stop that?" Darke was finished with the fighting, but Ember wasn't. He leapt towards Terry, who slipped under his swing and punched him in the stomach, forcing his semblance to alter the air once more into a thick noxious smoke.

Ember gagged, and finally backed off, folding the scythe back into its flamethrower form.

"Oh, Dar, look who I found." Terry excitedly waved towards one of the exits, and Hail stepped into the light, smiling slightly, and walked up to Darke.

"I guess we're a team then?" Terry suggested, clapping his hands together. When Darke and Ember started to argue the point Terry began working his semblance, and they both agreed to be a team.

As Violet had been watching the formation of the team, she had failed to notice the large Deathspitter silently descending from the roof- it's hundreds of legs topped by razor sharp claws- its poisonous mandibles ready for the strike. She would've died then and there, if her partner hadn't slashed the Grimm into pieces, startling her enough to spin around.

"You really need to be more focused on your safety than others." Peridot said, slinging his rifle sword over his shoulder, Violet huffed a calming laugh.

"Look who's talking." She replied, standing, then leaping down to the floor of the cavern, Peridot following behind her. The other team had left.

After passing through several more caverns and large rooms the two heard a large explosion, followed by a roar. They looked at each other, nodded and ran towards the sound.

Rosso and Isen were fleeing the collapsing tunnel behind them. They had been fighting a young Deathstalker. Rosso triggered a reaction from the Dust crystals in the cave by firing a fireball into a stalagmite, causing some of the embedded crystals to explode. This caused a cascading effect in the entire portion of the cave, it had killed the Deathstalker though.

As they ran it was clear that Isen couldn't move fast enough in his heavy armour, and Rosso jumped onto his back.

"Hold on!" She shouted over the collapsing stone, holding Rebel by the accelerators firing the engines at full throttle. It was slower than she would have liked, but they did start moving faster. Bit by bit they were getting away from the collapse, which had started to slow down.

As they came to a stop, the last few pebbles falling to the ground Rosso sighed, stroking Rebels board.

"That's a good girl." She was sitting with Rebel in her lap, while Isen was breathing heavily, leaning forward with his hands braced against his knees.

"How… are you… not tired?" He asked between pants.

"It's my semblance, I can just keep going and going, people tell me it's really useful in more than just field work." She smiled slyly, remembering some of the conversations she'd had with her former friends about it.

Peridot and Violet found them moments later, as they were trying to reorient themselves. "What the hell happened?" Violet asked, putting her weapons away.

"Well," Isen started, looking at Rosso, "Turns out when someone throws a dust fuelled fireball into something, they can set off a reaction in raw Dust crystals."

Rosso was about to comment when they started hearing laughter from all around the cave. Azure walked into the room, still laughing, and accompanied by a woman in a black and red outfit with a heart tattooed on her hand.

"Isen, it's been so long." She called, moving to embrace him, but he just held out a hand.

"How many times do I have to say it, we never have had any kind of relationship." She smiled, dropping her arms.

"And how many times to I have to tell you how great we would be together?" She looked at the other three, "With my brain and your brawn we'd be unstoppable, you know that." Isen just shook his head.

"You manipulate and throw away people who aren't useful to you, which is something you know I detest." She put a hand on his cheek.

"But we'd be so powerful." She whispered seductively, but he just smiled.

"When will you learn your semblance doesn't work on me?" She pouted now, annoyed that her plan had failed.

"Well fine, I didn't need you anyway, Kitty, come on would you?" She turned to go, but Azure just sat on a stalagmite, smiling like always.

"It didn't work on me either" Isabelle stopped, then spun around angrily.

"Well we're still partners, so come on, let's leave this lot to find the ruins themselves." Azure jumped off of the stalagmite, laughing quietly, before stopping again. She peered into the darkness, then grinned wildly, a malice filled glint in her eyes.

"Worm chasing mice!" She shouted, running into the direction she was looking, leaving he others completely confused. They were about to follow when another pair ran out of the cavern.

One was a mouse Faunus with light brown hair, wearing a brown jacket over black tights, a rapier in her hand.

The other was a woman in a black and white suit, with a disk in her hand that left a white trail of snow behind her. Chasing them was an Abyssal Worm, which filled the entire tunnel, Azure hanging off of one of the four jaw pieces.

"Look out!" The mouse shouted, spinning in the air and launching several shards of metal into the worm, which had no visible effect.

Isen roared, throwing his helmet over his face and charging at the worm, the brown crystals on his armour starting to glow slightly. As he reached the worm like Grimm it opened its mouth, which made up the whole of its face, to swallow him.

He stood strong and grabbed two of the jaws, his semblance holding him in place. The worm ground to a halt in the large cave. Its fifty meter long body was thrown into the air with the suddenness of the stop, and Azure was sent flying with a happy noise, before vanishing from sight.

The worm began thrashing, crushing stone pillars and crashing into the walls, bringing stalactites down on them.

Violet drew her daggers, pushing a small blue dust crystal into a hollow in one's hilt. She then pushed the hilts together to connect the Dust fuelled circuit, a light blue bowstring appearing from the tips of the weapons.

Violet drew back, a phantasmal arrow appearing when she had it at full draw, then she released. She repeated the motion another three times, unleashing four light blue arrows. Each one formed large icicles binding the worm's tail to a wall, stopping the mad thrashing.

Peridot and Rosso ran for the thing once it was immobilized. Peridot running for its mouth, eyes aglow, unslinging his blade from his shoulder. Rosso moved for the soft flesh of its underbelly.

Peridot hit his target first, running straight into the mouth that Isen was still holding open. He then unleashed dozens of slashes around the interior, before dropping out of the hole Rosso was carving underneath.

The Grimm stopped moving, succumbing to its wounds. Isen finally let the jaws go as it started to dissolve. He breathed a sigh of relief as the Dust crystals in his armour slowly faded again, his semblance dying down with them.

"Thank you." The two girls who'd been running were sitting on a rock, while the other six stood around them.

"I'm Lilly, this is my partner." The other girl held out a hand

"Names Shade Chapelier, my family makes Dust weave for clothes." The rest of them introduced themselves, and Peridot started to walk off.

"Where are you going?" Azure asked, suddenly materialising on a nearby rock.

"We've still got to find the hall of Champions, right?" She nodded, cocking her head quizzically.

"Well, we should probably keep going, I'd rather rest back at the school than here." Azure nodded, Lilly and Selene jumping off of the rock.

"Well, who's already a team here?" Isen took one look at Isabelle and started following Peridot.

"We're paired with them." He quickly started trying to match the Faunus' pace, Isabelle took on an indignant look, but didn't try to persuade him. It wasn't much longer before they reached the hall, and Rosso had to fly up to the last intact statue to see who it was.

"Damien the Fist, Hunter of Faunus." Peridot and Violet took one look at the statue, then smiled cunningly.

Peridot walked up to the base of it, where one foot was standing on a very demonised Faunus. He cut through the solid stone, drawing on his semblance to provide enough force to bring it down. They left the hall as the statue hit the ground, sending more rubble across the once clean floor.

As they exited the ruin, where four people stood waiting, Headmaster Stone, Professor Blaze, Professor Gale and Professor Lake, and they smiled.

"Congratulations." Professor Blaze greeted them "You are the fourth team to escape the Hall. Professor Stone will escort you back to the academy and show you your dorms, I'm sure you could all use a good night's rest." The headmaster led them away, and back towards the school.

On the way back, an Abyssal Worm crashed through the wall of the mesa. It flew through the air until it slammed into the ground, its hardened skull and armour stopping it from becoming a giant splat. Just as the headmaster was pulling his cane up, Ember popped up from the worms back, smiling widely.

"That was bloody awesome!" He looked up to the hole in the cliff, almost fifty meters up, and laughed.

"You guys alright up there?" The small head of Hail poked out of the hole, eyes wide, followed by Darke and Terry, who looked worried.

"Are you insane?" Darke shouted, and Terry sighed.

"Do not do that again, please Mr. Grimm." Ember noticed the five who he'd almost landed on.

"Oops, sorry, didn't see you there."

"Mr. Grimm, please refrain from such activities in the future, as you almost forced me to engage in combat." Ember nodded, then turned towards the new hole in the wall, starting his climb back to his team.


	7. VIPR PtVII

DETH was making their way towards the exit, they could see the massive doors of the hall and started celebrating. They ran towards the exit, ignoring the statues on either side of them and shouting and jumping around.

They were loud enough to wake a large Grimm sleeping behind one of the statues. The giant Cave Crawler was covered in scratches and broken weapons, from swords to spears to even the broken remnants of more modern weapons.

It leapt between the team and the exit, roaring with its front legs in the air. The four people instantly moved into action. Ember and Darke ran straight into it, Terry's semblance was useless against Grimm, so he focused on shooting weak points, not that there were many. The small Hail was too scared to move, she hated spiders.

Ember's scythe bounced off of any point he hit, doing little to no damage to the monsters shell. Meanwhile Darke's talons and gunshots were even less effective. Ember struck at the joint in one of the legs, and was struck by it, flying into the wall and being knocked out.

Darke tried to strike the rear, thinking it would be less armoured, but only got caught in a net of webbing. She was able to mist through it, her semblance reducing her momentarily to a dense fog. She started darting around to cover the spider in a dense mist, before she was pinned by one of the eight legs.

She screamed as the fangs descended, stopped by the intervention of Terry, holding the fangs in place with Gravedigger. But the dripping venom was still lethal, and it was dangerously close to both him and Darke.

Hail was watching the events play out, and finally her fear was overcome by her need to protect her friends. Her two urumi split into segments, flying across the hall in seconds to where Terry and Darke were. She landed on top of the Grimm, hooking each fang and pulling them apart.

Terry and Darke moved out as fast as they could, leaving Hail on the Crawler. She unhooked the fangs and wildly whipped around at the thick armour in a panic. She had little more luck than the others, but her razor sharp blades found the weaknesses in the armour that the others hadn't.

She hacked and slashed at the minor weaknesses, bringing another roar from the beast, before it threw her off, splashing her with its toxic venom.

Everything stood still for a moment, her mind racing as the venom sunk in, and her body began to grow weak and numb. Just as she was starting to slip into unconsciousness she felt a familiar sensation. It was a tingling feeling in her hand as another black spot formed, another potent immunity developing in her body. Her eyes widened, remembering her final weapon, a dangerous gleam forming in her eyes.

She sheathed one of her blades, then threw one of her gloves to the ground, exposing her spotted hand. She launched her other whip-like blades back into the creature, aiming for a crevice in the armour.

Landing on its back, she dragged her now bright green hand along one of the cracks in its armour. It shrieked as the armour was weakened drastically.

Ember came in, fully conscious again, but this time his scythe buried itself into the crack, bringing the Grimm to a halt. Flames erupted from the wound as he dragged the scythe along its back, until it finally dropped dead. Its legs curled up and it started to disintegrate.

Darke ran towards Hail, grabbing her hand, and feeling ill as she did, but still lifting it to look at the spots, once again dimming to black.

"What's this?" She asked, worried, but Hail just smiled, pulling her hand back and collecting her leather glove. She was shaking from the adrenaline rush.

Terry patted Ember on the back.

"Nice work, how's your head?" Ember smiled, shrugging at the concern.

"Bah, I've had worse." He was bluffing, but he was good at it and Terry didn't notice.

"I'm impressed, you must have an even thicker skull than I thought." Darke commented, putting a hand on his other shoulder

"Well, glad to have you on our team Ember." They walked out and met with the professors at the gate.

That night everyone gathered in the assembly hall for the official team announcements.

"Congratulations to all of you who made it out of the cavern, you have proven your skills in combat. We are pleased to announce the official Shade academy Teams, beginning with the first to exit, team ALIS." The four girls approached the stage as their names were called. Ally was put in charge of the team, much to Isabelle's shock. Storm continued down the list, reaching the fifth team.

"The fifth team to exit was VIPR." Violet, Peridot, Isen and Rosso walked up to the stage.

"Violet Viperidae, Isen Ironhelm, Peridot Pinewood, and Rosso Rouge, led by Violet Viperidae." Peridot put his hand on her shoulder, smiling at her, and she couldn't help smiling herself.

The next team was called "The sixth team to exit, was DETH." Again, the four approached the stage.

"Darke Mortem, Ember Grimm, Terry Pox and Hail Daver, led by Darke Mortem." Ember was stunned, but Terry and Hail congratulated her.

Well, that's the introduction to VIPR and DETH, DETH will be more of a rare occurrence, but they will show up every now and then. I'm not going through the training years, let's just say they were a pretty good team, but far from the best. The next chapter will be a few years after graduation.


	8. IE Cold Steel

Isen was wandering through the hostile streets of the abandoned town, he'd been sent in to find out what had caused the Grimm to attack the city, what had changed. As he wandered the streets he could feel a different presence to the Grimm, something lighter, an Aura. He made his way towards it, finding a small house that was under siege by beowolves.

He let out a roar, charging towards the pack, there were at least a dozen of them. He fired a few shots into their midst, blowing three apart and wounding another five. He then switched Shell Shock to sword mode, slashing through five more, before entering the house.

There were no Grimm inside, but he could see a light coming from a basement, with a feminine voice quietly coming from it. He cautiously approached, fearing the individual inside might be the cause of the Grimm assault. As he looked down into the basement, he sighed loudly and removed his helmet.

"Eis, what are you doing here?" The woman turned; She had bright blue eyes and white hair that flowed down her neck. She wore a pair of tights underneath a white jacket with the Schnee family crest on the right breast. She also wore a pair of knee high boots with blades running up the back, a revolving anklet of different Dusts mounted to each of them.

"Oh, hey Isen, how's the search going?" He withdrew his sword, then hooked his launcher to his waist.

"Terribly, now can you answer my question?" She closed a book sitting on a nearby table.

"Family stuff." Isen nodded, looking at the book, it was faded but the title read 'Dust and Grimm, our weapon and our foe.'

"I don't suppose you'll elaborate?" She shook her head.

"Sorry, I can't mention anything, even to you." She put a hand on his shoulder.

"How's your arm?" He smiled softly, the two were old friends, and even now they enjoyed each other's company.

"It's okay, hasn't malfunctioned in years, the Atlas team are really starting to master this stuff." Eis smiled, knowing just how far the Atlas military had gotten in its research into synthetic bodies.

She grabbed the book on the desk along with some other items and started climbing out of the basement.

"This was all I needed, care to escort me out?" Isen raised an eyebrow and she laughed "Fine, I'll help work out what happened." She walked towards the door.

They walked the roads and footpaths of the small town, it had been built inside of a large crater, the high walls had protected it from Grimm. They walked for another few hours before the sun started setting.

"Any good spots to set up?" Eis asked, and after a brief scan of the area Isen pointed at a tall office building.

"Up there looks good." as he walked towards the building Eis smiled.

"Meet you on the fourth floor." A burst of wind sent her running up the wall, her boots blades glowing bright green, leaving Isen to climb the buildings stairs.

When he reached the fourth floor Eis had already made a small fire, and had her boots sitting next to her "What took you?" She teased, smiling, Isen just unbuckled his right arm's armour and slid the metal sleeve off.

He started looking at the inner mechanics of his artificial arm to check for any damage. Everything had been protected, so he put the sleeve back on.

"I can't just run up a building." Was his only response before he laid his bedroll out. Eis just sat, watching him with a kind face, when he noticed he turned to her "What are you thinking of?" She laughed quietly.

"I think you know." He sighed again, putting a hand on her shoulder

"You know what would happen, your uncle would have me stripped of my position, and probably exiled, and I don't even want to think of what he'd do to you." She didn't stop watching him.

"My _3__rd_ uncle is an asshole, and I won't be his little cleaner so long as I can help it" Isen put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know, but we can't do anything about it, you're semblance can make you nearly untraceable, and he hasn't put you through so much training just to let you go." She looked away, laying down on the concrete floor.

"_He_ didn't put me through anything, he never even acknowledged me until he found out about my semblance, and demanded my father make me one of the families Negotiators." Eis had been selected by the Schnee family head, president of the Schnee Dust Company, to be one of the families undercover operatives. Making it her duty to deal with rising competition and obtain any new discoveries that were being kept from their hands. She was also a long-time friend of Isen's, and had been the cause of his lost arm.

"C'mon," Isen said, lying next to his bedroll "The little princess should have a bed." She glared at him.

"I'm _not_ a princess." But she still came and laid next to him, lowering herself onto the soft, thin mattress.

"But I do like soft beds." She curled up against Isen, who'd taken his torso armour and helmet off.

Isen woke first the next morning, and carefully pulled away from Eis, getting up to grab his rations for the morning. He pulled the bag of dried meat out and ate a few sticks of it, before putting it back and walking up to the roof to get a clear view of the area.

The building was one of the few multi-story buildings in the town, and gave a clear view of the entire crater. This included the shrine in the centre where whatever had made it was still sitting.

He looked out across the landscape, noticing a cave not far from their building, and headed back down to Eis.

Eis woke up, alone and with all Isen's things around, she'd had a dream, not an uncommon one for her. She was dreaming of watching the world from an airship, her distant uncles, and she could see darkness spreading across the world; waves of Grimm so large they blocked out the ground.

"Why won't you let me help?!" She screamed, panicked by the sight.

"You?" He'd scoffed, "You couldn't fight those, leave it to the ones who trained, like your cousin." She'd gotten angry at the old man.

"But you wouldn't let me train!" He stood now, rising from his throne on the ship.

"Your skills are too valuable to waste on fighting a losing battle." There'd been a shriek, an impact, and she'd woken up.

When Isen came down Eis was in a sweat, panting and shaking from the dream, and he rushed to her side.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worried, and she clung to him.

"Please let me help." Was all she said, before there was an echoing roar from the base of the building, and the two looked at each other.

"You can't be scared here." Isen calmed her, holding her for a little longer before letting go.

"I'll never try to stop you following what you think is right." He put his helmet on and grabbed his launcher. He converted it to its sword mode, before descending the stairs. Eis was right behind him, eyes glowing blue.

Beowolves were little threat to experienced huntsmen, and between Isen and Eis the ten gathered around the building were killed in moments.

The two made their way to the cave Isen had spotted, finding more opposition as they got closer.

"I think we may have found the cave!" Eis called, burning another Ursa with her boots.

"I've worked that out!" Isen shouted back, hacking through more Cave Crawlers. He hit his scroll to try and get into contact with the nearest hunting outpost.

"This is the Vacuo northwest hunting post, what's going on?" Isen pushed a boarbatusk back.

"This is Isen Ironhelm, requesting reinforcement in Crater, I believe I have found the source of Grimm infestation, need more support to get in though!" There was a moment of silence from the scroll.

"We're sending your teammate, Rosso Rouge to help." Normally Isen would've requested more support, but he knew they were stretched thin enough as it was.

"She should be there in ten." and with that the scroll closed, and left Eis and Isen to fight the Grimm.

It was only eight minutes before Rosso arrived, a streak of red flying across the sky. She drove down on the two, breaking her board apart moments before she hit the first Grimm, cutting it to shreds.

"Hey Isen!" She shouted, flying past his face, blades whirling around her.

"What kept you?!" He shouted back, firing a grenade into a nearby Beowolf

"I thought I was early." She was slashing through Grimm left and right, happily dancing about their fading corpses.

"Oh, sorry!" She almost cut through Eis.

"Didn't know you were here." She darted off again, towards another Ursa.

They finished up the wave of Grimm and Isen ran for a defendable house, leading the three into the basement.

"So, what brings you here Snowbell?" Eis glared at her for a moment.

"Family business." Rosso held up a book.

"Dust Infusions and other Archaic Practices, what's your uncle want with Dust Infusions?" Eis snatched the book back, putting it into a pack.

"_Distant_ uncle, and I have no idea, he ordered the book, the town was attacked, and I was sent in to collect it" Rosso shrugged, lighting a fire before laying down and drifting off to sleep.

"How on Remnant does she sleep so easily?" Isen smiled, taking his chest plate off.

"Her Semblance lets her keep running through just about anything, from injury to fatigue, but when she stops using it she normally just collapses." He sat up, taking first watch, while Eis lay down, hoping her dreams didn't come again.

The morning came without incident, Rosso had taken last watch, and woke everyone up. They went back to the cave entrance, largely emptied now, and entered, Isen leading with Rosso at the back.

There were few Grimm left, and the cave appeared to have been sealed, but as they travelled deeper they found construction, both old and new, and the source of the Grimm: A large hole blasted into the side.

As they approached the hole, intending to seal it, people and Faunus came out from the old buildings, guns, swords and various combinations of aimed at them. They all wore scaled greatcoats.

"That's quite far enough." one man, dressed in the same greatcoat as the rest with a thick glove covered in wires and a spear in his other hand, stepped forward.

"Well, a Schnee _and_ the little Rebel, this is a good day" He looked over the three, now tied back to back.

"Not what I'd be saying if I was you" Rosso was smiling, and Isen was counting the people, he could see at least a dozen men, and figured there must have been at least a dozen more still hiding. They were going to fight hard to keep whatever they were doing secret.

A large crate hit the ground hard, the man turned and shouted.

"Don't drop the bloody cargo, that thing breaks open and you can kiss that face of yours goodbye!" Rosso took advantage of the distraction. Using the fire dust in her body to burn through the ropes, and lunged for her nearby board.

The other two joined in the escape attempt, Isen tearing the ropes apart and Eis burning through them, hurling themselves into the people gathered around.

"Get out here!" One shouted, pouncing on Isen, along with three others, only to be thrown off and blown away by grenades. Others were being frozen, electrocuted and blown off a ledge by Eis' boots.

Rosso had thrown both herself and the man in charge of the operation into a deep shaft, the two landing on opposite sides, the man was smiling, and it was annoying her.

"Quit smiling like that or I'll make it permanent." She lunged, blades whirling around her, striking the shaft of his spear, before she felt a jolt and pulled backwards, the man started to laugh.

"What do you think of my little trick?" She noticed he was only holding the staff with his gloved hand now, there was small sparks jumping from the glove to the staff. She smiled, throwing herself at him again.

She struck again and again until she made it passed the staff, striking him in the chest with one of her blades, before darting behind him and striking his back several times. She darted back before he could recover.

He stumbled, leaning on his spear for support, watching her, she hadn't even flinched after the first shock.

"How…" He realised she had small sparks jumping across her, then remembered why the Dragon had her infused with Dust, her enduring semblance. He didn't have long to register this before she was on him again, and this time there were no shocks from him.

He fell in a bloody heap, slashes covering him, Rosso standing above him with stains from his blood, until she felt her semblance dying down.

She started to stagger forward before she fell to the exhaustion. She should have died from the electric shocks she'd endured, but her semblance had saved her life, like it always did.

Isen was looking down at his collapsed friend, between him and Eis the grunts hadn't taken long to dispatch, and now they were thinking about how to get her out.

"You could just run down there and back up again, right?" she looked at him, then back down at Rosso.

"But she's nice when she's unconscious in a hole." Isen gave her a glare and she smiled before jumping down.

They were back at the hunting outpost before Rosso woke up again. When she felt the warm bed beneath her, she knew she was either safe, or dead already, so she took a few extra minutes before getting up to find out.

She noticed she was in the outpost, so she wasn't dead. A look in the mirror proved someone had cleaned the blood off of her. She left the bunk room and walked into the main office.

The administrator was sitting behind her desk, a cup of coffee in one hand and a pile of papers in the other.

"Anyone else in?" Rosso asked, the woman didn't even look up from the report.

"Nope, Isen left for Highcliff two hours ago, Peridot went to investigate _another_ White Fang sighting, and Violet isn't due back until tomorrow." She nodded, before collecting her things from the bunk room and taking off to find Isen.

She found him alone marching in the Vacuo heat in his usual stubborn way, and decided to walk with him. She landed next to him and seamlessly brought herself into step next to him, he quietly chuckled.

"Fine entrance" Rosso smiled, doing a small bow.

"Thank you, where's Snowbell?" Isen rolled his eyes.

"She got picked up by an airship at the outpost, they were dropping her off back at Atlas, so she's home safe and sound." Rosso nodded.

"Damn, I was actually going to thank her for once." Isen raised his eyebrows, and she started laughing.

"Okay, we both know that's a lie." Isen laughed too, and they walked all the way back home, to Highcliff.


	9. P Breaking Fangs

Peridot was walking along the beach of the White Fang outpost, taking in the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves. The ocean and rivers were nearly never used once airships were invented, the Grimm in the sky's much easier to avoid than the gigantic Grimm in the water.

He watched as a giant serpentine Grimm lunged into the air, snapping at a passing fang airship, missing by just a few meters. It would have been beautiful if it hadn't been a merciless killer.

He spotted a girl up ahead, watching the scene too, she wore standard White Fang uniform, with a triangular gun strapped to her back. She sported a pair of grey wolf ears, with wild hair growing in a thick mane around her face and down her neck. Her shirt was loose and she wore no shoes, revealing even more of her grey hair.

She wasn't wearing her mask, and her clear blue eyes were locked on the airship, not even noticing Peridot as he approached. The first thing she registered was the sound of his feet on the sand. She spun around, hoping to see her brother, but Peridot stood there instead, eyes on the Leviathan.

"Are you looking to join?" She asked, her voice was an oddly deep growl for a woman so small, but Peridot shook his head, watching the wide tail flick the bottom of the airship.

"Then why are you out here?" She reached for her weapon, but Peridot was faster, drawing his rifle and aiming it at her, shaking his head.

Her hands rose into the air, and Peridot spoke

"Your friends on that ship?" she nodded "Why are you here?" She remained silent.

"I'm not feeling sympathetic right now, tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to start cutting." She looked back at the airship.

"They won't help you."

"Fine, we're looking for a Dust vein nearby, we know it's here because the Schnee family sent someone to sniff it out before us." He nodded, committing the location to memory, it would likely become much less beautiful in the next few years.

"How many of you are there?" She glared at him.

"How does it feel to betray your own?" He held his gun firmer.

"I'm not here to talk about your delusions of peace through violence." She laughed.

"Delusions? Humans have started treating us with respect because of our violence, they won't let us be equals, so we'll force them to make us."

"You don't see how that's going to end?" She bared her teeth at him in a snarl, they were mostly canines.

"They've already started, the Schnee company, the Crimson Order, they started this war already, we're just retaliating!" Peridot lowered his gun for a second, the Crimson Order were definitely a group of Faunus hating radicals. Though he saw more similarities with them and the Fang than he saw differences.

"The Schnee company needs new administration, that I won't deny, nor that the Crimson Order fight to eradicate Faunus. But I have to point out the similarities between them and your own organisation." She snarled again, taking a step forward.

"We are nothing like them!" Peridot went back to his original question.

"Believe what you will, that's not why I'm here. Now how many of you are there?" But she was aggressive now, she wouldn't answer any more questions.

She lunged, knocking his rifle away and trying to grab his throat, but Peridot kicked her back, and by the time he had his rifle back in hand, it was too late.

She had her gun in hand, firing off bursts in his direction. Peridot parried the shots, separating his rifle's barrel, exposing the thin blade within, and charged forward, bringing the two blades down on her. He was blocked by a tear shield, held by a heavy set man in a white suit, two sandy lion ears atop his head.

The girl sneered beneath him, jabbing outward with a spear, the stock of her gun had become a sharp head, with the barrel extending into a shaft. Peridot was sent backwards, sliding to a stop a few meters from the two.

The man was much taller than the girl, and heavier. He held two tear shields, each had the White Fang emblem stamped onto the round section near the top. He had well groomed sandy blonde hair, and he looked to the girl.

"Luna, who is this?"

"I don't know, some asshole who pointed a gun at me." She was ready to lunge at Peter, but the man put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

"What's your name, huntsman?" He was pointing the bottoms of both shields at Peridot, revealing the wide pair of barrels mounted beneath, but Peridot remained silent.

"Fine then, die in silence." He opened fire, two large slugs flying towards Peridot. Luna jammed the base of her spear into the ground, firing rifle mechanism and sending her hurtling towards him as well.

Peridot rolled to the side, dodging the bullets and when Luna's spear stabbed at him he knocked it aside with his larger blade, darting forward and grabbing her. He knocked the spear out of her hand and holding his blade to her throat, holding her between himself and the man.

"Why don't we calm down and talk now?" Luna let out a barking laugh, before she vanished, appearing next to the man.

"Why don't you get a clue?" She called back, but the man knew she was vulnerable, she had lost her weapon, and with Peridot so close to it there was no way to get it without putting Luna in danger.

"We'll talk, my name is Sol Fang, this is my sister Luna." Peridot sheathed his blade, pointing the restored rifle at Luna.

"Fine, my name is Peridot Pinewood" Sol let his shields fall, and Peridot did the same with his rifle.

"Are you here on orders then?" Peridot shook his head, and Sol thought for a moment.

"You could have killed us when I lowered my shield, so you must have some honour, I won't mention you to our superiors so long as you don't mention anything you've learned about us here." Peridot shook his head again.

"I can't do that, I can't have the Fang breaking the fragile peace it's built by starting a war." Luna growled but Sol nodded, placing a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Most of us do want the annihilation of humans, true, but more than a few of us understand that there are both good humans and bad Faunus. Me and my sister don't want a war, we want to be understood." He paused, as if about to say something else, when Luna finished for him.

"We also want revenge" Peridot looked at her, she was a wild animal, she looked close to losing herself and going feral, but her brother looked to be the one keeping her sane.

"Against who?" The two looked at him, shocked.

"The Crimson Order, and Rose Scarlet in particular." He nodded slowly.

The Crimson Order were founded by a woman named Rose Scarlet, she'd lost her mother and father to Faunus who'd let themselves run wild. She'd lost her aunt and home afterwards in a raid by the Fang.

Now she preached that all Faunus were just a step above beasts, and the slightest bit of stress would send them feral. So she went about hunting down and killing Faunus, she was considered a criminal by the kingdoms. She was only known to attack travellers or Faunus only communities.

"I'll help." Luna's jaw dropped and Sol raised an eyebrow

"Why?" Peridot looked at the two, he could see some similarities: They both had the same shaped face, they both had sky blue eyes, and they both had clearly suffered at the hands of Rose Scarlet

"I didn't say I'd help without conditions." Sol smiled knowingly.

"What are they?"

"I'll help, if you leave the White Fang, and tell me what's going on here, all of it" Luna was conflicted. She was trying to decide what she wanted to do more; tear Rose's head off, or stay with the Fang.

"The Fang are the only family we have, no one else would take us in after the Order destroyed our home, we won't leave, not for that reason alone." Peridot nodded, thinking about other reasons.

"Then leave for each other, I've seen many White Fang members taken in by both huntsmen and other authorities, I've also seen some killed. I'd hate to see you lose one another because someone less sympathetic found you." His hand had unconsciously started rubbing Verde's horn, held to his shoulder by a green ribbon, and the siblings looked at each other.

"Then they'd just hunt us down for deserting." Peridot was brought back by Sol's voice.

"Go into Highcliff, find a small apartment building called the Salt Rest, tell them Peridot Pinewood gave you permission to use his room." The two were surprised again.

"You'd give us your room to hide in?" Peridot smiled again, thinking about the other members of his team.

"You may have to convince my teammates that I let you stay there." Luna raised her eyebrow.

"You stay with your teammates?" Peridot nodded.

"We're normally out though, huntsmen are kind of spread thin these days." He started leaving, before calling over his shoulder.

"You can tell me about this place when you get there." He left, walking along the beach, stabbing a random crablike Grimm in a shallow pool.

He made it to Highcliff before the siblings, warning the owner that he was expecting a pair of Faunus to visit sometime soon. He walked up the stairs to his shared room, walking in to find Isen reclining on the couch, half asleep. When the door opened Isen snapped awake, looking to see Peridot enter the room.

"Welcome back, Rosso's in the shower." Peridot nodded, sitting at the table and disassembling his rifle, cleaning each part of it

"I'm expecting some people." Isen looked over to Peridot, normally he didn't speak unless spoken to, and even then only if he felt like it.

"Who?"

"A pair of Faunus, former Fang members." Isen shot to his feet.

"What?!" He shouted, but Peridot didn't reply.

"Does this have something to do with that mining site you were investigating?" he just nodded, Isen rubbed his temples.

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Isen had lowered himself into the seat next to Peridot, trying to look the Faunus in the eyes, but Peridot was focusing on his equipment. It was one of his many ways to keep himself calm, unemotional, in control.

Rosso sat on the table, wearing only a towel. She had heard the end of the conversation, enough to know they were expecting dangerous visitors.

"I'm gonna make a guess and say their siblings, right?" Again Peridot nodded, putting his weapon back together.

"You should probably get dressed before they get here, the girls a bit wild." Rosso grinned widely.

"I like getting a little rough you know." Isen shot a disapproving glare at her.

"Go get dressed already, if we're getting visitors you should look presentable." She stuck a finger up at him looking at him.

"Screw that, I like making an impression." Both the men looked at each other.

"That's normally the problem…" Isen sighed, getting up, as did Rosso, wandering over to the room she shared with Violet to change.

It was another hour before the pair arrived, and the door was answered by Rosso.

"You must be the Fang deserters, right?" Luna was sizing her up, deciding if she was a threat or not, but Sol nodded.

"We are, is Peridot in?" Rosso stepped out of the door, gesturing them to come in.

"Yeah, come in, you're not exactly inconspicuous in that outfit girl." Luna growled quietly at her.

"He was right, you are a bit wild." Rosso laughed, smiling as she walked back to her room.

"I don't like her." Luna grumbled as they walked into the kitchen, where Peridot was cooking some long, complicated meal for later.

"You didn't strike me as a chef Mr Pinewood." Peridot didn't take his eyes off of the pan he was stirring.

"Helps keep me calm, and the others seem to appreciate it." he finished stirring the pan, then set it to simmer for a few minutes.

"I heard Rosso answer the door, sorry." Sol laughed, but Luna was irritated.

"How do you put up with her?" She already didn't like people, and Rosso wasn't helping her opinion.

"I understand that she can be frustrating, and excitable, but she has a good heart." Luna snorted, but Sol took a seat.

"So, how long does your hospitality last?" Sol asked, Luna taking a seat next to him.

"Until either he says get out, or we don't think you need protection anymore." Isen stepped out of the men's room, he'd taken his armour off for comfort reasons, but didn't like feeling so vulnerable around strangers.

"I'm Isen, happy to meet you." he extended a hand to Sol, who promptly shook it, but when he turned to Luna, the girl was a bit more hesitant.

"They won't hurt us Luna." Sol said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Not without reason" the voice had come from the window, and made them all jump. Violet was sitting on the only window in the main room, one leg in the room, the other on the sill. She was looking at the two Faunus sitting at the table.

"You two from the Fang?" Sol nodded, Luna was too awestruck by the creature before her.

"I never thought I'd get to see…" Her words trailed off and Violet smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too." She got off of the sill and walked over to the stove, she was used to people being strange around her, it was when they became amorous she had trouble. She brought Peridot's attention to the simmering food that was just starting to burn.

Peridot grabbed the pan and started stirring it again, before placing it on the bench to cool, Violet grabbed a piece of meat out of the pan and started eating, showing her fangs.

"What are you names?" Luna answered hastily.

"Luna, this is my brother, Sol" Violet nodded, getting up and leaving.

"This is a good one Peridot, you should make it again." She called as she left for the girl's room.

Peridot and Isen arranged sleeping for the siblings, there was a spare mattress in their room, and one could sleep on the couch. They went to bed after that, Peridot climbing up to the top bunk of the bed the boys shared.

The next morning Peridot was first awake, as always, quietly climbing down from the bed and walking into the kitchen. He ignored the two sleeping in the main room, Sol had gotten the mattress, while Luna was curled up on the couch.

Peridot fired up the stove, setting two pans on it while getting the eggs and bacon from the fridge. He focused on making food so much that he didn't notice Rosso walk out of the girl's room and take her place at the table.

She was watching Luna and Sol, they didn't seem like bad people. She knew better than most that judging someone by the company they kept wasn't the best way to get to know them. She was still sitting there when the two woke up, and she turned to them.

"Sorry if I was a bit rude last night, but I do understand what you're going through." Luna glared, sceptical.

"How would you have any idea about what we're going through?" Rosso smiled sadly, looking at the empty plate in front of her.

"I used to be a part of Draco's Dragons, might have heard the name?" She didn't wait for an answer.

"Anyway, my mother and little sis got involved too, so did my best friend," She was starting to hesitate, then felt she needed to finish the story, "I killed a few people. Complete freak accident, and they started hunting my mother and sister down to use them as lead to reign me in. I hid them, my best friend told them where, and they got killed." Sol was starting to look just as sad as Rosso, but Luna was angrier.

"Why didn't you kill them?" Rosso looked up, her eyes were glowing slightly, and the flame tattoos covering her hands were twisting and writhing slowly.

"I did, but Moiss didn't know what she was doing. We trusted that asshole too much because of his damned semblance." Even Peridot was listening closely.

He did like hearing about his teammates, but he never wanted to risk getting close to them. He didn't want to lose them and have a repeat of his sister's death, so he never asked about their past.

"What do you mean? Whose semblance?" She looked over at Peridot, fire burning brightly in her eyes

"Draco's." Her voice dripped with anger and hate.

"He's handsome, and can charm practically anyone, especially young girls down on their luck." There was a hand on her shoulder, Isen was standing behind her.

"That's really sad Ross, but you need to calm down, you're burning the table." Rosso looked down and laughed nervously. There was a black scorch mark where her hand had been, and her cloak was starting to singe the back of her chair.

"Sorry, guess you're not the only one who should try and keep themselves under control, eh Per?" Peridot put some bacon and an egg on her plate.

"Food helps." Rosso smiled widely, shaking her fork at him.

"That it does." She started devouring the food in front of her, she always seemed to be starving. The pair of White Fang deserters sat on either side of Rosso, Isen took a seat across the table.

"Where's the reptilian girl?" Luna asked, looking around the room carefully.

"Violet? She doesn't normally get up until late. Something about needing to warm up for a bit before she starts the day." Isen answered, before digging into his own breakfast.

"So, what exactly is going on out at the mine?" Peridot had turned the stove off, filling three more plates and giving two to the siblings.

"Honestly?" Sol started, Luna was too busy eating to actually help with the explanation, she didn't use cutlery, instead just biting and tearing at the food. "We have no idea, one of the Vale Lieutenants was trying to get as much Dust as he could. Something about trading it for Atlesian prototypes some guy stole from the division showing up there. Our Lieutenant decided to hit two birds with one stone and attack the Schnee mining operation to send over to him."

"That's actually quite genius." Isen commented, washing his and Rosso's empty plates.

"So the fang are collecting Dust to trade for Atlesian weapons," Peridot whispered to himself, "I'll head out to the transmit tower and get this to the Vale HQ." He grabbed his rifle and coat, but as he put a hand on the door, Luna held it shut.

"What about your end of this deal?" She growled, Isen looked over at Peridot questioningly.

"What is she talking about?" Peridot opened the door, Luna forgetting that it opened outward.

"I'll look through the archives, if I can't find anything, I'll look for any recent sightings, I'll live up to my end, just be patient." With that he walked out of the door.

"What is he doing for you two?" Isen was suspicious of the pair again, and taking no pains to hide it.

"He's searching for the Crimson Order for us." Sol stood, walking towards Isen and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We have some scores to settle." Isen understood, and nodded, relaxing.

"Sorry, but my perception of you two is a bit skewed by the fact you were in the Fang all of two days ago." Luna growled at him, but Sol walked over to her and smiled.

"Luna, you know the fang hasn't done much in recent years to gain trust, I never wanted to mention it before because they took us in, but I honestly have no idea how they expect this to end in any way but violence." Luna felt slightly betrayed, but wasn't shocked by her brother's confession.

"Violence gets quick results, and makes people listen, but it gets worse the longer you do it." Violet had entered the main room, walking towards the kitchen to grab some food.

"I agree completely, the time for violence is over, we need to negotiate now, Faunus are legally even with humans now, and as far as I'm concerned, that's enough. But some people refuse to accept it on both sides, Rose Scarlet is a perfect example of humans that don't understand, and the Fang leader probably isn't such a bad example of a Faunus who wants more than equality." Luna punched Sol, baring her teeth at him.

"He isn't that bad!" She shouted, hitting him again, and again.

On the fourth hit he grabbed her arm.

"You're nineteen Luna, it's time you grew up and stop believing everything you're told!" Sol shouted back, grabbing her other hand when she tried to hit him again.

"I heard the Lieutenant talking to the head," Sol said quietly, relaxing his grip on her arms, "They wanted to take down an airship full of civilians, some were even Faunus, just because there was someone with the name Schnee on board, probably not even closely related to the president, but they were going to." Luna was horrified, her arms falling to her side, and she quietly whispered,

"Did they?" Sol shook his head.

"There was no one close enough, but the time they tried the ship would've been within a protected area." Luna breathed a sigh of relief, but still bowed her head.

"I'm sorry brother." She wrapped her arms around Sol, and he did the same to her. Violet was watching the scene closely, she'd never had a close relationship with her mother, her father had left before she was born, and she'd never had a sibling.

Half the reason she'd left home was to find someone she could share things with, either someone she could be close too, or maybe even someone like her.

Peridot was entering the door of the transmit tower, there were dozens of people inside, all trying to get some message back home or out to a distant friend, he entered the elevator and held his scroll up to the scanner.

"Welcome Mr. Pinewood." The female voice responded, and took him up to the communications room. He settled in front of a computer, being patched through to the Vale huntsman authority.

"Hello Mr Pinewood." a spectacled man with grey hair appeared on the screen.

"Hello Professor Ozpin, I have news regarding the White Fang operations in your area." Ozpin nodded, taking a sip from his coffee mug.

"It would seem they are being armed with stolen Atlas Paladin units by a man who trades them for dust." Ozpin thought for a moment before responding.

"Do you have a name?" Peridot shook his head, "Where is this information from?"

"A pair of deserters I encountered while investigating an overrun Shnee Dust mine, they seem to be trustworthy." Ozpin nodded again, looking into his coffee briefly.

"I'm afraid I have no new information for you. Either they are getting more sophisticated with their communications, or they are just sending less between themselves, I apologize Mr Pinewood." He shook his hand in front of the screen.

"It's fine Professor, how are those teams you've been watching? Are they living up to your expectations?" Ozpin smiled, nodding.

"They have proven to be more capable than I thought, though it is causing some… problems keeping them from getting too deep." Peridot nodded, standing.

"Until next time, farewell." The screen went blank and Peridot turned to leave.


	10. RE Weapon Critic

Eis was smiling ear to ear, she'd gotten two invitations to a new exhibition in the Vacuo museum, and she wanted to take Isen with her. She stopped outside the door, smoothing her hair back before knocking on the door. Rosso answered the door as usual, she was the most energetic and curious of the four teammates.

"Hi Rosso, can I come in?" Rosso stood to the side and gestured for her to enter.

"Of course princess." She bowed as Eis entered, the two had never gotten along, due to Rosso's view on authority and how much the Schnee family represented it. Eis ignored the not so subtle insult.

"Where's Isen?" She asked, looking around the main room and the kitchen.

"He went out on a mission last night, didn't he tell you?" Rosso plopped herself down onto the couch, she'd been rubbing some lubricant into Rebel's joints, and resumed doing so.

"Why did you want him? Did you get tired of being alone again?" Rosso grinned at the glare the comment got her.

"No, I had an extra invitation to a new exposition at the museum tomorrow." Rosso perked up, her attention fully focused on the piece of paper in Eis's hand.

"You don't mean the history of dust and its uses exhibition, do you?" She nodded, and Rosso sprang from the couch, snatching one of the invitations, eyeing it carefully. Her whole body was shaking as she read each of the golden words written on the fine card, before Eis snatched it back.

"I will do _anything_ to get that invitation." For Rosso it was the closest she would get to begging, and Eis knew it, smiling at the possibilities.

"If, and IF, I give you this, will you stop calling me princess, snow bell or any other names I think are insulting?" Rosso nodded, "Will you stop treating me like I'm a spoiled princess?" She nodded again, and Eis handed over the invitation, barely keeping her fingers as Rosso grabbed it.

"One last condition." Eis nervously continued, getting Rosso's attention, the girl was blushing slightly, "You have to come with me, you can't just show up with the invite, because it has my name on it." Rosso looked down at the gilded writing, and sure enough near the bottom read 'Eis Sleet Schnee, +1'. Rosso sighed, but smiled, hugging Eis happily, making her even more nervous.

"Are you okay?" Rosso let her go, the stupidest grin on her face.

"Yeah, you're actually a nice person, sorry for being a bitch." Eis smiled back, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"It's only taken you three years." They both laughed, Eis stayed for a while longer before she had to go to a family event.

Rosso spent the next day in anticipation, Violet was the only other member of the team not on a mission, and she spent her time wandering about the town. Rosso was jumping with excitement when Eis showed up, dressed in fine silk and crystal, while she wore her usual tee and jeans house attire.

"Do you actually own a dress?" Rosso thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"Don't think so." Eis sighed, holding up a case.

"Good thing I came prepared."Rosso raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean 'prepared?'" Eis walked into the room, grinning.

An hour later and Eis was finished. Rosso wore a dark crimson dress that ended at her knees, where she had equally dark leggings, she was adamantly against heels, and instead wore a pair of ash grey slippers.

"I feel utterly _ridiculous_." She whined, but Eis nodded, happy with her appearance.

"You _look_ presentable." Rosso shot a quick glare, before smiling at her.

"Next time, I get to dress you." Eis scoffed at the idea, but was interested by the idea.

"Shall we go then?" Eis was standing in the door, and Rosso was beside her in moments.

"Just remember, I'm not Isen, and this isn't a date." Rosso grinned.

"I don't think I could ever make that mistake." The two walked out onto the street, a man in a car waiting.

"Good evening ladies, you must be Miss Rouge, I'm Lapis Silver, and I'll be your chauffeur tonight." He bowed before stepping into the drivers seat. Rosso and Eis climbed into the back, and they were off.

The ride was quiet until Rosso grabbed a disk out of her pocket, handing it to Lapis.

"Put this on, could you?" The man nodded, slipping the disk into the car. The stereo started pushing out a rap with a female artist.

"What is this?" Eis asked, actually liking it.

"Aurum Bling, she's a friend, hasn't actually released this one yet, did I mention she hunts?" Eis went wide eyed.

"She hunts? Like, Grimm?" Rosso nodded, enjoying the music.

The ride was another few minutes, driving passed the Hunting Quarters, and then down to the docks. They pulled up outside the old building carved into the cliff, the Waterside Museum of Remnant History.

"I can't believe I'm actually getting into this legally." Eis shot her a worried look.

"Don't worry, it's only trespassing, you should've seen what I did before." They walked up to the entrance, a pair of bouncers were standing in the door.

"Hello ladies," one started "care to show me your invitation?"

Eis and Rosso flashed their invitations.

"My friend here is Rosso Rouge." They nodded, letting them in.

Rosso had never seen the place lit up before, even though she'd been there several times after hours. She was surprisingly interested in history, especially in Dust and its uses. They wandered into the foyer and Eis was immediately swarmed with greetings, people who wanted to curry favour with the Schnee family and didn't realise she had no pull.

Rosso slipped away to have a look around on her own. She walked into a room labelled 'Hero's and weapons, masters of Dust' and stared at all the old and new equipment. She stood in the centre of the room, looking around, when someone chuckled behind her.

She spun around to find a woman standing there, she wore a pair of grey headphones, blue tinted sunglasses and a heavy grey jacket. She had tanned skin with wild black hair. She also wore a pair of gauntlets that were three times as thick as her arms, hands equally enlarged.

"Impressive aren't they?" She asked, walking up to a sword in a display case, before punching straight through the hardened glass.

"What the hell?" Rosso was shocked, but more than ready to respond. She leaped at the woman, who easily grabbed her by the throat.

"You don't want to get involved with this." She threw Rosso across the room, smashing through another case holding two fireswords, Wings of the Phoenix. Rosso grabbed the blades, lighting herself up.

The woman's eyes widened, then a smile spread across her lips.

"Oh, you're the little rebel, Rouge, right?" Rosso smiled too, getting into a fighting stance.

"Granite, the lord said not to engage if we could avoid it." A man in a black long coat and skull mask stepped out from the crowd.

"Relax Coal, she doesn't even know those things." Rosso lit the blades.

"The Wings of the Phoenix, belonging to the legendary huntress Scarlet Phoenix." Granite whistled, pulling her gauntlets up. She held one in front of her, and the other along her side, covering most of her body.

"What the hell is going on here?" Eis walked into the room, looking at the scene. "Rosso, you better have a good explanation for this." She felt a cold blade press against her throat.

"Miss Schnee, a pleasure." Coal was holding one of two katar's against Eis' neck.

"Who are you?" She asked, and the man laughed.

"I am Coal, your family destroyed mine." Eis kicked into the ground, forcing a shockwave out with her boots and sending Coal flying.

"I'll take this one." Eis clicked her heels together, switching to a wind Dust.

Eis cautiously approached Coal, she had sent him into the hallway, startling many of the guests at the exhibition.

"You do your family proud 'negotiator.'" Coal put an emphasis on the last word, Eis was unphased.

"I'm not here for the family, stay down and this doesn't get any worse." Coal laughed, getting up.

"Things cannot possibly get worse." He sprinted forward, being blasted into a wall by the gale generated by Eis' boot.

He steadied himself, and charged again, this time ducking Eis's kick and brining his Katar down to bear. He slashed at her, but struck nothing. Eis had pushed herself into the air using her other boot, landing behind Coal, before striking him in the back several times.

Coal roared in both pain and frustration. He threw the hilts of his Katar together, and they bent in half, angling and leaving a space in the centre, filled with a yellow crystal. The lightning shot out with loud thrum of power from the Dust crystal, catching Eis off guard. She was sent hurtling into the next room.

She struck a life sized statue of the first president of the Schnee Company, snapping an arm off of it. Coal stepped into the room through the hole Eis had made. He grabbed her by the hair, before a flaming boot struck his crotch, making him keel over in pain.

Eis stood again, taking a breath, before she felt it, a hot pain in her back. She spun around too late to stop the second blast from the cannon, and this time she stayed on the ground.

"I'm going to enjoy this." Coal took his Katar apart and started cutting.

"Well, little Rosso, how's it feel to hold legends?" Granite was smiling, as was Rosso, before she lunged again. Granite was surprised by her speed and ferocity, but far from unprepared for it.

Granite lashed out with a fist, powdering a statues head as Rosso ducked and tried to get under her defences. Granite brought her other fist forward, striking Rosso in the ribs, sending her sprawling once again, but Rosso was on her feet and rocketing back into Granite before she even noticed. Rosso got several strikes in before she had to dodge another punch.

Rosso leaped over Granite, bringing her blade down again onto her back, but Granite quickly grabbed the blade, a cruel smile on her face.

"Time for the hurt firebrand." She laughed, before punching Rosso several times in the chest, trying to wear her aura out. Rosso let her Dust lash out, burning hot and bright, forcing Granite to let her go, or risk having her hand melt. Rosso didn't let the distraction go to waste. She charged one last time into Granite, slashing enough to force the woman into submission.

"Coal get us out of here!" She shouted, and in an instant the masked man was there, bloody blades in hand, and in another they were both gone. Rosso had been focused on Granite, but she'd seen the blades too.

"Eis!" She shouted, running into the hall, there was a clear gathering in another room, visible through a hole in the wall. Rosso rushed in, finding Eis laying in the centre, clutching at her chest.

"Eis, let me see." Rosso was crouched next to her, and looked up at the crowd.

"Has anyone gotten a doctor on the way?" She shouted, and instantly everyone had a scroll out. Rosso forced Eis' hand away, looking at the mark that had been cut into her, it was a large crown carved into her chest, not far from her heart.

"Ross, this hurts a lot more than it should." Eis was rigid, and her entire body was shaking, Rosso knew the look, she remembered the pain, but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Instead, she held her hand and tried to help any way she could.

By the time the medics arrived Eis was almost unconscious. Infusions were hard on a body that was ready for it, Rosso had no idea how Eis would survive, but the girl was tough.

Rosso went to the hospital with her, and grabbed her scroll when they took Eis into the emergency room.

"What's going on Rosso?" Isen answered, and Rosso hesitated, then sighed.

"There was a fight, some guys after a weapon in the museum, me and Eis were there and tried to stop them." Isen gave an acknowledgement.

"I beat the one fighting me but… Eis, she." Isen could hear the pain in Rosso's voice.

"What happened to her Ross?" Rosso took a deep breath, then answered.

"She got cut up, then a dust fragment was forced into her." She could hear Isen's sharp breath.

"I don't know if she'll make it through, her aura's been drained for a start." Isen sighed on the other end.

"Alright, I'll be home tomorrow night, I'll be there as soon as possible." Rosso remembered where Isen was.

"Sorry, this is probably going to cause hell for you." Isen barked a laugh.

"Nah, it might even get me done faster." Rosso heard a roar, before Isen hung up. She sat in silence for another hour, before one of the doctor's emerged from the room.

"How is she?" Rosso asked, and the doctor looked worried and confused.

"Well, she's stable, whatever happened to her charged her aura enough to heal the wound." Rosso was now as confused as the doctor.

"Wait, so the dust infusion… Charged her?" The doctor nodded.

"She's still out of it, but her hair has gone blonde." Rosso knew the effects of infusion, eyes were normally changed, but hair was rare, almost unheard of.

"Can I go in?" The doctor nodded.

"Sure, just don't expect her to be very talkative." Rosso stood and walked into the room.

She was shocked by what she saw. Eis' hair was blonde, but it was also green, red and blue, and it kept changing. Rosso took Eis' hand and knelt next to her.

"Eis, Eis I have no idea what's happening here, you were infused, that I know, but this is strange, this doesn't happen just because of that, this doesn't happen period." Rosso rested her head in Eis' arm, starting to sob, when she felt the arm move. She looked up and Eis was smiling weakly.

"I thought you were Isen for a moment." Rosso smiled, she'd been genuinely worried about her.

"I didn't think I was that sappy." She laughed, Eis laughing too.

"What the hell happened to you?" Rosso asked, Eis' hair was white again, and her eyes were their usual blue. Eis smiled, stroking her own hair.

"It's part of my semblance, I can temporarily infuse myself, I guess when that man shoved that shard into me it triggered and went nuts on me." Rosso sighed, standing up, Eis laughed again.

"Were you actually worried about me?" She asked, and Rosso nodded quickly.

"Of course I was, I know how demanding an infusion can be, I thought you were going to die and I was going to have to tell Isen." They both laughed again.

"I did tell Isen what happened though, he said he'd be back tomorrow night."Eis nodded.

"Any idea who those two were?" Rosso shook her head, bringing a seat over to the bed.

"None whatsoever, I remember their names, but I can't say they were familiar." She thought for a moment, then remembered how much Granite had known about her.

"I know who sent them though." Eis pulled herself up onto her elbows.

"How?" Rosso looked her in the eyes, feeling her fire light as she thought about it.

"Draco Bronze." Eis nodded, Isen had told her about Rosso's former gang leader, and about her tragic departure.

Nearby two people walked through the empty streets, both were breathing heavily, they'd been running hard to get away from the museum.

"Well, Draco is going to be upset." Coal said as he straightened his coat, Granite was still fuming about the fight.

"Next time, you fight the huntress!" She shouted, Coal didn't understand her anger.

"I have a personal problem with the Schnee's, it matters more than your pride." Granite bunched her fists up.

"My pride is all I've got left, you have a problem with the Schnee's? Deal with it, 'cause I got more than enough problems of my own." She was starting to growl, and Coal understood it was time to stop.

"Draco will still punish us." Granite sighed, her anger evaporating slightly.

"No he won't, I still got what he wanted." She pulled the small round object out of her pocket.

"I pulled it from the weapon before engaging, I'm reckless, not stupid." Something was bothering Granite, she'd seen the Schnee woman, her hair had been changing colour, and she'd been violently spasming.

"What did you do to the Schnee?" Coal smiled evilly, and it disturbed Granite slightly.

"Poetic justice." Was all he said as they continued walking, spending the rest of the trip in silence.


End file.
